The Times Of Your Life
by Detafo
Summary: This is the story of Lucian Hale, brother of Rosalie. How he became a vampire. Full summary/idea on my profile.
1. Prologue

**.:disclaimer:.  
><strong>_(this disclaimer will appear only in the prologue)_**  
><strong>I do not own any of the characters that have appeared in Stephanie Meyer's _Twilight_ novels.  
>Lucian, my character, is the name I have given one of Rosalie Hale's unnamed younger brothers. I do not claim to own anything about Twilight or its characters, but I do hold Luc a little close to my heart.<br>I mean no disrespect to Stephanie Meyer.  
>I promise only to play with the characters and I will put them back in the toybox when I'm done.<br>Thank you!

Enjoy the story!****

**PROLOGUE**

_**February 1933**_

"Please, Rosie! Why do you want to marry _him_? He's a toad!" Lucian Hale, 14 years old and world-weary, despite his young age, blinked his pale blue eyes up at his older sister. He knew she was shallow, thanks to their parent's materialistic ways, but to actually _want_ to marry Royce King Jr? The thought made the young boy wince.

Rosalie fixed her brother with a glare. She loved her practical brother, but sometimes he was such a worrier! "Luc, please, it's my life and I shall do with it as I please. Don't be so pessimistic." Her gaze softened as she ran a hand through Luc's dark brown tresses. They reached almost to his shoulders now. "I know you don't like Royce, but please… make an effort tonight, for me?"

Luc huffed resignedly. He'd never liked the Kings. Their youngest son, Timothy, made his life a living hell at school every day. Plus the family cared only for themselves and not for anyone else. That, to Luc, was inexcusable, especially in these devastating times. But he nodded. He would do anything for his beloved sister. Anything to make her happy.

Rosalie smiled and hugged him excitedly. "Thank you, Luc! You won't regret this! I promise!"

"I'd better not." Luc smirked. "Otherwise you'd have to pay."


	2. Chapter One

**CHAPTER ONE**

_**August 1943  
><strong>_  
><em>Dearest Rose,<br>It's been ten years since I've seen your pretty face. You have no  
>idea how much I miss you, darling sister. Your death was a great<br>shock to us all, but as time has passed, people seem to have  
>forgotten the exact colour of your eyes – azure – and only harbour<br>fleeting memories of you. It feels wrong._

_As usual, I start my letters by reassuring myself that I still miss  
>you and that I have not forgotten you in any way shape or form.<br>It seems silly, to carry this journal with me wherever I go. You  
>have become my journal, where I tell you the thoughts that run<br>through my head every day of this Goddamned war._

_There are those who say war is hell. But I must contest this  
>overview. Which circle of hell do they refer to? Perhaps the<br>fifth circle, Anger? Or the seventh circle, Violence? Whichever  
>circle it is, I think that the assumption in grossly underestimated.<em>

_I joined the army to fight against Hitler, but of course, like any  
>politician, he hides behind wave upon wave of soldiers doing his<br>bidding like he is God._

_But there is no God. If there were, you wouldn't have been taken from  
>me. Royce King Jr. would have faced up to his crimes. Father wouldn't<br>have shot himself and Casper might not have gone mad and tried to  
>kill Mother. I still hear her haunting screams as I tried to pull Casper<br>off of her. Casper, the different Hale. The mad one. Isn't it strange  
>how we all had our own titles? Rosalie, the beauty; Lucian, the<br>quiet; Casper, the mad._

_It's quiet on the front tonight, which is why this entry in long and  
>rambling. I could spend the time talking to my friend, Laurent,<br>but he is on watch tonight… it'd be best not to distract him. Though  
>I believe it takes a lot to fully distract him. Even when his attention<br>is on you, he seems to know when something's about to happen._

_I have prattled on for two and a half pages. It's almost my turn to  
>take up watch, so I'd better sign off and get ready. The captain might<br>not be impressed if I'm late._

_I miss you, Rosie. I miss the things we'd talk about. I miss… life as  
>it used to be. When things were simpler. Before the Depression,<br>before the war, before our family was thrown to the four winds._

_I love you, I miss you with every passing hour.  
>Your brother,<br>Luc_

_)*+*(_

__Bombs were whistling. Bullets whizzed passed his ears as he ran, making his way to a ditch where he could stop and assess the situation. A voice groaned in his ear, pain evident. The man threw the youth off his shoulders as he slid down the embankment just into the tree line.

There was no one else. The battalion was all gone. The last one of them lay there in the dust, groaning in pain as the bullets lodged in his stomach caused him to slowly bleed to death.

"Please… help… me…" The man – not much older than a boy – groaned.

Had his red-eyed companion not felt compelled to save the one he'd grown close to – a friend, as strange as it seemed – he might have killed him where he lay. As it was, the dark skinned man couldn't bring himself to murder his comrade, and he had to hide himself and the younger man before they were found by the enemy. The last thing that Lucian Hale heard before he passed out was his own gasp as teeth pierced his neck.

)*+*(

The burning, the thirst, the desire… Lucian's eyes popped open, instantly assessing his surroundings. The air was silent, the dust that blew over the field would have hindered his gaze, had he not been able to see every single mote that floated on the air.

"Water…" He rasped, his voice sounding different, like a distant orchestra. He might have taken more notice had he not been so very thirsty. His ears pricked at the sound of water running over rocks, a stream… perhaps three miles away. "Water…"

Before he knew what had happened, he was flying. No, not flying, but running extremely fast – faster than what was normal for a human, the sound of his booted feet barely touching the ground, giving off no more sound than the rustle of leaves.

The thirst was burning in his throat. How did he have the energy to run when he was so parched? Impossible, one might have thought. As he ran, his enhanced senses picked up movement to his left – a wild boar. Instinctively, the man changed course, unsure as to why. With a roar, the wild pig scuffed the ground, ready to attack the approaching creature, but before it could so much as getting footing on the wooded floor, the man was on top of it, ripping into its muscular neck and feeding off its blood.

A shriek that could have woken the dead that lay out on the field was quickly silenced to a gurgle as the pig died. The man emptied the animal's veins of its blood and lay, panting, on top of the carcass.

After a moment, he stood, unsure of what had just happened. He had… fed off a pig. And not only that, the thirst had diminished. Not vanished, but had ebbed away until it was barely noticeable.

What was happening to him?

"So, you have awakened." A French-accented voice pierced his thoughts. "I would have thought, surrounded by so many humans, you would have fed off one of them, but… I suppose they've all met their demise. I cannot hear a heartbeat anywhere."

Lucian turned slowly to face the speaker. His eyes alighted on a tall man, beautiful, despite the dirt and blood that caked on his face. The man's hair was black, his eyes were dull red.

"Laurent?" Lucian stammered. "Wh…what has happened to me?"

"Shh, shh, Lucian." Laurent was suddenly in front of him, calming the young one down. He studied the young man. "You were wounded… the Germans, they ambushed during the night, three days ago, just as you were about to take over my watch… they shot you, massacred the battalion. I am the one who saved you."

"How?" It had occurred to Lucian that his heart should have been thudding painfully against his ribcage. As it was, he could feel nothing at all. He looked at Laurent, a questioning look on his face.

"How? Lucian, my friend… have you ever wondered why I never seem to come out in daylight unless it is overcast? Have you ever wondered why I never seem to eat with the other soldiers? Why I take the night watch every night?" Laurent smiled. "I… and now you too, am a vampire." He rested his muddied, bloodied hands on the young soldier's shoulders. "Now, you might say that vampires are the stuff of children's stories." He glanced at his friend's eyes, a small smirk on his face. "Believe me, I was just like you in that respect. But… it is true. Vampires walk the earth. And you and I are two of them."

Lucian had been quiet all through Laurent's monologue. Although part of him wanted to scoff, wanted to walk away from a man who was clearly insane, he had to wonder. There was rhyme to his reason. He brought up many valid points. "But… why me?"

"Lucian, Luc… you are the only one I can honestly call 'friend', even after two hundred years." Laurent shrugged. "And from what I have come to understand, friends don't let friends die… especially not in a war as hellish as this one." He placed a heavy hand on Luc's shoulder. "Come, we must make a move. Listen, you can hear the soldiers scouring the field."

Luc listened hard. Laurent was right. He could hear the faint hum of voices, speaking to each other in German as they looked for survivors in the massacre that was once his battalion. Looking back at Laurent, he nodded. There was plenty of time for questions. Right now, they had to get away.

)*+*(

"So… we _sparkle_ in the sunlight. I thought it burned us." Lucian was taking to being a Vampire well, seeing as up until a week ago, he had no idea the supernatural existed.

Laurent laughed heartily. "A mere fairy tale to scare children. Most of what you have heard about our kind is false. We don't burn in sunlight, a crucifix and garlic don't bother us, we don't sleep in coffins – or sleep at all. We can't turn into bats or smoke… the only thing that is true is that we feed off of blood."

"I'd rather not feed off a human, if it's all the same." Lucian shuddered. "If blood has a flavour, then most humans must be sour as lemon… the people I've met in my lifetime… well, it only props up my theory."

"I agree… but I don't have your stamina… for a newborn Vampire, you're showing excellent restraint. Perhaps because your first meal was that boar?" Laurent pondered for a moment before shrugging off his questions with a sigh. "I suppose everyone takes to this life differently."

"You said I was your only friend in two hundred years… what did you mean?" Luc asked, changing the subject. Laurent had told him horror stories of Newborns that he'd come across, and the younger man had thanked his lucky stars that he was (supposedly) different.

"I meant what I said." Laurent murmured, looking around the wood. "I was a loner in my human years. I never had friends. I was a homeless urchin, no one would want to even look at me, let alone try to befriend me. I grew up on the streets of Paris, watched my family die from plague. " He smirked. "But… that was two hundred years ago… my story is only getting older… and no more interesting than that."

"I beg to differ, but…" Luc grinned at his fellow vampire. "If you say so." He coughed, changing the subject. "How long until we can get out of France?"

Laurent raised an eyebrow. "In a hurry to go back to your family that by now thinks you are dead?" He asked before he could stop himself. At Luc's facial expression, he backtracked. "I apologise, Luc… that was uncalled for. But you remember what I told you. You cannot go back to your family, you can not expose the secret."

"I remember." Luc sighed. "It's not like I have a family to go back to anyway." He poked at the drained carcass of his most recent meal – a wolf. Laurent raised his eyebrows questioningly. "My sister, Rosalie, was murdered when I was fourteen." Luc said after a silence that seemed to last an age. "By her fiancé. But that's an opinion held by myself alone."

"I am sorry to hear that, Luc." Laurent sounded genuine. "To lose a family member so harshly…" He trailed off, obviously thinking of his own kin that had been ravaged by plague, leprosy and malnutrition. "But what of the rest of your family?" He asked, shaking himself from his reverie. "You told me once that you had a brother… and what of your parents?"

"My father shot himself soon after Rose's death. After he was fired from the bank for my implications that it was Royce King Jr who murdered her." Luc lowered his red eyes. "I still have not forgiven myself for it. My brother, Casper… he's currently in Byberry Asylum in Philadelphia."

"How did he come to be there?" Laurent couldn't help but be curious. In the months that he'd known Lucian Hale, he hadn't realised the depth of the boy's pain. If he had known, he might have let him die on the fields, saved him from an eternity of pain.

"Casper was always quiet, We just naturally assumed he was shy." Luc leaned against a tree and stared at the stars showing through the gaps in the foliage. "After Rose's death, he seemed to withdraw into himself even more… began spouting stories that he'd seen Rose on the street, covered from head to foot in clothing, as if disguised. We assumed he was taking the loss very hard, but about six months before I joined the army, he seemed to get better. He came out of his shell, he talked to us more openly. It was when I came home from my job at the lumber yard that I found him choking my mother to death." He stopped, clearing his throat unnecessarily. "I managed to pull him off her, and he came after me. My mother was diagnosed with tuberculosis a month after Casper's incarceration and died last year. I got the telegram on my birthday."

Laurent stayed silent throughout the telling of Casper Hale. He had never found humans particularly interesting, and now that Lucian was one of his kind, he supposed he _still_ didn't. But he'd never heard of another of his kind that had seen as much death and misery in their first life. "You are so young… to have seen so much pain… I would have said one of our kind wouldn't have seen this much hardship until they'd at least been living their second life three or so years."

"What about you, then?"

"Hmm?"

"You saw a lot of pain in your first life…"

"It was only me… my 'family' were a pack of street urchins that cared more for themselves than their mates. First in, first served… the unwritten rules of the homeless, I suppose you could say."

"Oh." Luc looked back up at the stars. The night was fading fast. When would this godforsaken war be over? He knew that it would best be safe to stick around with Laurent, at least until he was used to his new life as a Vampire, learning the ins and outs of the nature. But he wished to be back in America, back on familiar soil; back in familiar surroundings and with people who spoke Goddamned English!

"Luc? Luc!" Laurent was looking at him with a curious gaze. "It's time to get going. The Germans are not entirely stupid. They will be searching here too, very soon."

They got up, preparing to make a break for freedom. Dawn was when soldiers would be changing guard, it would be safest to run now. Luc had questioned this strategy the day before, but Laurent had reasoned that though vampires were uniquely fleet of foot, it would be best not to cause more attention to come their way in case of being labelled as deserters.

)*+*(

_**October 1945  
><strong>_"This is where I bid you adieu, my friend." Laurent put his hands on the now-golden-eyed Vampire's shoulders and kissed both his cheeks. The boat that would take soldiers back to the United States sat in the dock, impatiently waiting for its passengers to embark so that it could set out on its journey home.

Luc grinned. "Laurent… it was a pleasure knowing you. Thank you. For everything." His face, swathed in bandages, giving the appearance that he had had an unfortunate meeting with a landmine, but in reality, stopped his fellow Americans from seeing the diamond-like shine to his skin. "You are a true friend. Maybe we will see each other in years to come."

"Hopefully not as soldiers in another war." Laurent laughed, before turning serious. "I must away, now. The smell here is too… tantalizing to my senses." He grinned. "I have a feeling we will one day meet again, my friend. Take care of yourself."

"And you, Laurent. Be well." Luc managed to smile through his bandages. "Until we meet again, my friend." He allowed himself to be lead away by a young nurse who was to help him to a cot where he could supposedly rest.

Laurent, melting into the crowd and virtually disappearing into the masses of wounded and nurses, made his way back to the forest that the two had been living in up until a week ago. He had promised his newest companion that he wouldn't feast on any of the returning American soldiers, and he had made good on that promise. Now, with his red eyes almost black, he had to find a meal.

)*+*(

Two days passed. The trip was long, and many of his comrades had become infected in their wounds from gangrene. The smell to his sensitive nose was appalling. Death and dying were not so appealing when you had enhanced senses such as that of a Vampire.

Every time the nurses came in to change his bandages around his face, he would think of a new excuse, but they were beginning to see through the pattern and began to enforce the changing. Or they were about to. It was soon time to get away before they could find that he wasn't really injured. He should have taken Laurent's advice and swum back to America. Vampires were good at swimming he had discovered, and it would have taken a shorter time than the usual five days on a boat.

And judging from the hushed whispers from outside the door of the 'ward', as he had taken to calling it, he'd have to escape soon off the ship he'd had come to know was named _USS Lake Chamberlain_.

Looking around the room with his one 'good' eye, he saw that all of his comrades were either sleeping or in too much pain to notice him. That would come in handy. Slipping from the bed, he freed his head of the bandages and stealthily made his way out onto the deck, thanking his lucky stars that he'd been placed in such close proximity to an escape.

Looking at the direction the ship was going, Luc climbed the railing and, with one final look around the ship that he had called home for two days, he jumped overboard, beginning his swim to what he had deduced, would be Maine.

The swim, although long, seemed to last for no more than a few minutes to Luc. Thankful for not needed the necessity to breathe and the internal compass that seemed to point him toward American soil, he was in Jonesport, Maine within thirty hours of jumping the rail. The nurses would have almost certainly noticed his missing person, but at the moment, he was far too busy being happy to be on home territory.

From Jonesport, he made his way to Bangor, then to Newport, across Vancouver, to his home town of Rochester in New York State, stopping, only once, when he needed to hunt. The full trip, which would have taken a normal human about a day in travelling by car, took him five hours and forty-three minutes on foot, thanks to his impressive speed.

Once back in Rochester, he made his way to the family home, surprised that the family servants, although few, still made their life at the house. It occurred to him that the house now belonged to him, the oldest surviving heir to the name of Hale.

The house, although desolate on the outside, still felt as warm and inviting as it had in his youth. Mrs McLachlan, the housekeeper, and Mr O'Reilly, the butler, had stayed, even after 'the grievous affair of Master Casper's incarceration, bless his soul', as Mrs McLachlan had put it. Although not expecting Lucian home, they went right about making him feel welcome and in charge.

Being a simple soldier, not having a great amount of cash, Luc soon took to travelling, finally letting the staff go with a full pardon and excellent recommendations. He couldn't stand to be in one place for too long… people would start to notice that he didn't age after all.

And that was when his travels began.


	3. Chapter Two

**CHAPTER TWO**

_**December 1969  
><strong>__Dearest Rose,  
>It's Christmas time once again, and I am a fifty-one year old<br>man. I should be spending the holidays with my kin: A wife,  
>a handful of children, perhaps some grandchildren playing by<br>the fire. But I live, eternally damned, in the body of a twenty-  
>five year old boy.<em>

_In the past, if one were to say to me that you could live forever,  
>without the aid of human nourishment and water, I would have<br>scoffed. But that was before I was turned. I have written many  
>times in countless journals about Laurent's gift to me. I'm sure<br>he thought he was doing me a kindness. I cannot blame him._

_As I write in this journal, I can hear children outside having a  
>snowball fight. I am saddened by the fact that I will never<br>experience fatherhood. Frozen in time, dead on the inside by all  
>accounts. It is not something I would wish upon my worst enemy.<em>

_I have seen women give me second glances in the street. I cannot  
>bear to return their flirtatious behaviour, for fear that I will hurt them<br>when it comes time for more intimate exercises to take place. As a  
>result, I've overheard the various labels affiliated to homosexuality<br>being thrown about. If only it were that easy!_

_I give off the idea that I am merely a recluse, looking to do my work  
>as an architect in peace. I am one of the few 'normal' youths of the<br>area, as almost every other young adult has become involved with what  
>has been called the 'Hippie Movement'. Apparently, in an effort to keep<br>attention off of myself, I have gained attention from concerned parents  
>who tell their offspring that they should be more like that hard-working<br>young manin Ferens Park._

_For that, I get ridiculed relentlessly. I've been called all sorts of names that  
>make sense in the British language ('square' seems to be a local favourite),<br>but to an American, it doesn't make any sort of sense! I suppose I have  
>until the end of time to figure it out.<em>

_As usual, Rosie, I have prattled on for far too long. I still have to keep up the  
>pretence of humanism, and must at least appear to be celebrating Christmas.<br>So, here I sit, watching the snow fall outside my window, thinking about the  
>human experiences I will never get a chance to live through.<em>

_Merry Christmas,  
>Luc<em>

)*+*(

_****_The radio hummed a rock and roll melody as the dark-haired young man drove the cherry-red Plymouth Road Runner through the winding streets of Durham. How he'd succeeded to keep such a beautiful car free of vandalism was a mystery to his neighbours, but none of them were game enough to ask just how many locks he had on his garage door.

Singing along with the Beatles' _Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds_, Luc Hale pulled up in front of his modest cottage – modest as opposed to the extravagant car that he drove, at least. Switching off the motor, he hopped nimbly from the automobile and headed inside, stopping at the door and fumbling with the key with his mittened hands, a practice he had perfected, living among humans… he couldn't be perfect _all _the time, after all.

"Hey! Mr Hale!" Luc turned at the sound of a child calling his name from the end of the drive. A young boy was riding his bike up the gravelled path to talk to him. Luc smiled.

"Hi Danny." He said, thankful once again that he didn't drink human blood. How could he not let children like his neighbour experience life to the fullest? "What brings you out in this weather?"

"Mum asked me to bring these over to you." Lifting a basket off the handle of his bike, Danny McWilliams presented it to the man in front of him. "She said that it was sad to see you hadn't gone to visit your family for Christmas this year, and that no family had come to see you… so she said to say 'Merry Christmas', and you're welcome to come and celebrate New Year with us, if you like." Danny said all of this in a rush of breath and grinned when he looked up at Luc, proud that he'd remembered the entirety of his mother's message.

"Well, now. That's sweet of your mother." Luc took the basket, letting the smell of turkey sandwiches and a thermos of eggnog waft over him. "I might come over in a bit to thank her myself." He ruffled the boy's hair with his free hand. "I just have some blueprints I have to review for work, but I'll be over, perhaps after dinner."

"Okay!" Danny wheeled his bike around and gave Luc another big grin. "See you soon, Mr Hale!"

Luc waved the boy off and took the basket of goods and his blueprints inside. In truth, although the sandwiches and eggnog would have made a human's mouth water, it did nothing for a Vampire. All food of nutritional value tasted a little better than sawdust. But, the kid's mother's heart was in the right place, he couldn't deny that.

It had become normal practice for Luc to bring his work home with him, just so he wouldn't have to venture out and see concerned neighbours that thought he should interact a little more. To be a young person and not have a social network was apparently a death sentence. Luc didn't mind. He'd liked being by himself since the day the police came to report that Rosalie had been murdered by a bunch of drunken louts.

Not that his neighbours weren't nice. In fact, what had made him choose this area to live in for the last few years had been the friendly faces he'd encountered when looking for a house. There was Danny's mother, Angela; a Scottish lass in her thirties, waiting for her brother and her husband to come home from Vietnam. There were the Carrington family; a young couple who had a brood of four boys, all under the age of ten. There was Max Caulfield and his young Japanese wife, Akiko. Akiko didn't like Luc very much, though no one knew why. She didn't speak much English.

Yes, it was an interesting little neighbourhood he'd chosen to live in. Friendly, close-knit, but not so close that everyone knew every item of their neighbour's dirty laundry. Hell, if that were the case, Luc probably would have let all the skeletons in his closet do the can-can on the front lawn!

There was a knock at the door, jerking him out of his reverie. Who could be visiting at this hour, and why? Getting up from the table, Luc strode slowly to the door and opened it. The sky was dark with cloud and threatened to release its baggage of snow once again during the night. Switching on the porch light, Luc looked at his visitor.

Angela McWilliams stood there with a slightly-nervous smile playing about her lips. "Hi, Lucian… Danny said that you were going to come over after dinner?"

Luc looked at his watch and saw that time had passed swifter than he'd thought. He groaned. "Oh, Angela… I'm sorry! I was so caught up in reviewing the blueprints that I brought home, I must have lost track of time." He made a pained face. "Forgive me?"

Angela chuckled. "I figured as much." She said in her soft, Scottish accented voice. "Of course I forgive you."

"Thank the Lord for small mercies." Lucian smiled, a hand over where his heart should have beat in his chest. "I was going to come over and thank you for the invitation to your New Year's party, but I will be unable to attend because I'm visiting my brother, Casper, in Philadelphia."

"Oh," Angela's smile fell ever-so-slightly. "That's a shame. I mean, not the seeing your brother part, but the fact that you won't be able to make it to the party."

"I know." Luc chuckled. "But I found out that the reason Casper never came to visit this Christmas was because he had a fall and broke his leg." The lie came soft swiftly, so easily. "So, I promised I'd spend a little time with him over New Year. I've been wanting to see my old stomping grounds for a while."

"Well, give my get well wishes to your brother," Angela smiled.

"I will." Luc smiled.

"When do you leave?"

"Tomorrow evening. I've got to finish packing before I go to bed so that I can just go straight to the airport after I finish at the office."

"Travel safe, won't you?"

"Always do."

"Well, we may see you when you get back." Angela smiled, before turning to head back down the drive. "Have a good time."

"I will. Tell Danny I'm really sorry about this evening… I didn't mean to dash his hopes."

"He understands." Angela said. "Goodnight, Lucian!"

"Goodnight!"

)*+*(

It hadn't taken long to sell the Road Runner, it was in perfect nick, and aside from the tell-tale number on the odometer, could have been bought recently from the dealer. It had taken even less time to pack his belongings, thanks to his supernatural speed. By the time his flight was boarding, Lucian had left nothing but the memory of himself in his neighbours minds and a letter explaining that he'd been offered a great job back in Rochester.

Although uninterestingly long, thanks to the fact that he couldn't sleep, the people on his flight were surprisingly fascinating to watch. There was the usual families going home from Christmas vacation, there were the suits, snoozing away or reading their newspapers, the stewardesses offering pillows and blankets to those who required them. There was one couple, however, who caught Luc's attention the fullest.

The man, around Luc's apparent age, had blonde hair and pale skin. His deep, liquid-gold eyes skimmed through a large book of Norwegian poetry - _Siælens Sang-offer _by Dorothe Engelbretsdotter, he noticed. By his side, a woman, probably a year or two older, sat reading a book on gardening. It was easy to tell that these two were blissfully in love. The sly glances at each other every now and then and the way they leaned toward each other was a dead giveaway. The woman, also sporting deep golden eyes, finally seemed to notice Luc's staring, and looked across the aisle at him, smiling in a friendly manner. Luc smiled back, averting his gaze, not wanting to seem rude.

A moment later, he felt a firm hand on his arm. He looked up to see the man with the poetry gaining his attention.

"Pardon me," He said, sporting an accent that Luc couldn't quite place. "I couldn't help but notice you staring at my wife and I."

"I'm sorry." Luc said softly, not wanting to wake his neighbour, a snoring older gentleman. "I was people watching… these flights tend to be so tedious."

The other man grinned. "I completely understand." He nodded. "My name is Carlisle. This is my wife, Esme."

"Lucian." Luc shook the proffered hand. "But call me Luc. Everyone does. It's very nice to meet you, Carlisle, Esme."

"Are you going home, Luc?" Esme smiled. "Christmas vacation?"

"Actually moving back. I've been living in England for the last few years now." Luc couldn't help but like Esme. She had a kind face. "Worked as an architect in Durham."

"An architect so young?" Carlisle smiled. "Though, I suppose I shouldn't question. I'm a doctor."

"I'm older than people think." Luc murmured, low enough that a human ear wouldn't be able to process the statement. "But I pass as mid-twenties."

There was suddenly a waft of breeze that floated toward him, a scent carried with it, as Esme closed her book. The scent caused Luc's brow to crease. The scent was something he had not smelled since living in France over twenty years before. Vampire.

"You're… like me?" He asked softly, taking in their golden eyes with renewed interest. Esme cocked her head to one side, as if to ask what he meant. Carlisle had a small smile playing about the edges of his lips. "You… I…"

"How old are you _really_, Luc?" Carlisle finally asked, having heard the murmured admission to Luc's being older than he seemed.

Luc was in a state of shock. Over the years, the only other Vampires he'd met were human-eaters and, therefore, had crimson eyes. He'd never even dreamed there would be others like himself, feeding off of animals so as to let humans live their lives! "Uh… I'll be fifty-two in March."

"Carlisle, he's only young… younger than Alice!" Esme said softly. Carlisle was looking at him thoughtfully.

"Your gold eyes, you feed off the blood of animals?" The question was barely more than a whisper, so as not to attract unwanted attention. Luc nodded very slightly.

"I have never touched a human in my life. My first meal was a wild boar in the woods close to Lyon." He matched his voice to the low whisper that Carlisle used. "I don't see any reason to start now."

Carlisle looked impressed. "Lyon? During the war against Hitler?"

Luc nodded. "I was the last of my battalion. We were ambushed as I went to take dawn watch and relieve my friend."

The three of them conversed in whispers the rest of the trip, Luc finding himself more comfortable in the company of these two Vampires than he had in years. Close to sunrise, the plane started to descend, the horizon turning from black, to grey, to pink as the sun edges closer to dawn. The three Vampires busied themselves with getting their belongings togethers before departing the plane as a company of three, instead of separately.

During the conversation that followed as the Cullens waited for the their flight to Anchorage to be called, Luc learned that Carlisle and Esme were living with likewise thinking friends in Alaska with their five 'children', all of whom were the same as he – drinking the blood of animals, rather than humans. Carlisle had saved Esme after she tried to kill herself (something that made Luc wince to think about), and saved his first son from Spanish Influenza. His first daughter he'd saved from the streets of Rochester (something that piqued Luc's interest to say the least) and his second son from a grizzly bear attack (though, Carlisle added, it was Rose who really saved him and brought Emmett to him to turn). Alice and Jasper, the newest to the Cullen clan, had merely shown up one day and had been welcomed into the family with open arms.

As Luc waved them off as they boarded the small plane, having promised he'd stay in touch, he whispered, knowing that the two golden-eyed vampires would hear him: "I may come to visit… Lord knows it'd be nice to know a family again."

Carlisle turned and nodded almost imperceptibly, smiling in agreement. Luc would be welcome any time in Alaska.

)*+*(

The weeks passed and true to his word, Luc kept in touch with the Cullens, sending them letters to the address they'd given him as an afterthought, before leaving him behind in JKK International airport. He told them of his treks through New York State, how he'd managed to find a cosy place in a small cottage in Colorado, how the dense trees in the mountains managed to hide his sparkling skin from curious passers-by.

In return, the Cullens told him of life in Denali – the exploits of the clan, what the 'children' had been doing during their travels, how much Alice and Edward and Jasper wished to meet him, what news came from India, where Rosalie and Emmett had decided to extend their stay.

Although alone, Luc couldn't help but feel he belonged to the Denali clan, even before he'd met the rest of them. It had been a nice surprise to find that there were others like him with similar dietary habits.

It was a letter, arriving six months after Luc had met Carlisle and Esme, that gave news of Rosalie and Emmett's impending return. Alice, apparently a visionary, had seen the decision be made and eagerly awaited the return of her beautiful sister and brother.

No one was quite so sure how long the cabin in the woods of Colorado had been deserted when someone finally noticed the 'hermit' hadn't come into town for his usual supplies and had thought to send a police officer to check to make sure he was all right. But one thing was for sure, the dust on the ground was thick enough for the officer to leave prints.

Lucian Hale had gone again. 


	4. Chapter Three

**CHAPTER THREE**

_**June 1970  
><strong>__Dearest Rose,  
>The constant moving around is starting to wear on my nerves.<br>I know it wouldn't be wise to let Humans in on the secret as to why  
>I don't age, but sometimes the temptation is so great, I'm afraid I<br>may slip._

_I understand now why Laurent preferred the nomadic lifestyle, never  
>staying in one place long enough to be found interesting, amusing,<br>curious. Of course, it could also be so that he does not give into  
>temptation and draw attention to himself if he were to murder a<br>whole neighbourhood._

_I remember the look of absolute bloodlust in his eyes when we came  
>across a trio of deserters. I couldn't bear to watch as he drank his fill<br>and left them to rot in a stinking field that had once housed a vicious  
>battle. I think that was the point I vowed never to touch human blood.<br>I was sorely reminded of Casper's madness when I saw Laurent, and  
>did not (and still don't) want to make it seem hereditary.<em>

_Although the speed with which I am gifted is useful when evading humans,  
>I have been taking my time with traveling to Denali to meet a family<br>of 'vegetarian' Vampires – an inside joke: vegetarian, simply because  
>they share my choice in diet.<em>

_I speak often of them in this journal. Carlisle and Esme Cullen were the  
>two that I met on the plane back from England. As well as them, there<br>are their children – Edward, Rose, Emmett, Alice and Jasper, plus their  
>'cousins', Tanya, Irina, Kate, Eleazar and Carmen. It will be interesting<br>to meet them, as up until I left Colorado, I had heard nothing but good  
>things about them in the letters that Esme faithfully sent.<em>

_I am curious about the one named Rose, though. Carlisle told me the  
>story of how he came by her – apparently, she had been beaten nearly<br>to death on the streets of Rochester… strange, isn't it, how someone  
>with a name similar to yours, had a similar experience… though, she<br>was lucky enough to encounter a second life. Wouldn't it be strange,  
>in a way, to find that Rose Cullen is really Rosalie Hale, my precious,<br>darling sister?_

_I didn't have time to question Carlisle about his 'daughter', though, as  
>they had had to board the plane for their return trip to Anchorage, and<br>it seemed rather impersonal to ask such probing questions of Esme in  
>my letters to her… I think you'd like her. She reminds me of Mother, in<br>a lot of ways. Perhaps not as materialistic, though!_

_And so, I travel – slowly, but surely – towards Denali. It's a good thing  
>we Vampires don't tire. It would be an exhausting journey, otherwise.<em>

_The fact that I left Colorado in the middle of May and have taken a month  
>to even get this far… perhaps I'm 'stopping to smell the flowers' too often?<br>But one certainly cannot rush … A weakness I seem to have sustained from  
>my human life? I remember you giving me such a scolding when I would<br>dawdle during our walks in the park! Was that because you were in a hurry  
>to get home? Or perhaps you wanted to gain the attention of the local<br>fellows on their way to work?_

_Of course, I tease – which sounds quite odd, now that I see it written. A  
>man, teasing a journal that he has lovingly named after his sister? But<br>I will take the teasing, the jibes, as they come. If they ever come._

_This has got to be my longest entry in at least a month, dear sister. It's  
>only fitting that I leave off here, and enjoy a little hunting. The thirst is<br>raging in my throat. What do I feel like? Perhaps a bison? I can smell a herd  
>close by… and a creature of that size would surely quench my thirst for<br>a while at least._

_Once again missing you with every passing day,  
>Luc<em>

)*+*(

The sky was just beginning to lighten in the east as Luc finished his meal. The bison had been an easy catch, having been sleeping as Luc had, for lack of a better word, stalked his prey. The large animal had barely made a sound as his lifeblood was pulled from his neck by the vampire, and so the rest of the herd had stayed where they were, almost completely unaware that they were now less one member of their total.

As the sun broke over the horizon, Luc stole quickly away, his belly full and his eyes liquid gold. By his calculations, if he ran at fifty miles an hour, he would be in Denali in just over two days. But, as he'd discovered his liking for taking his time, he meandered here and there, taking in the sights of the Canadian landscapes, the mountains, the trees, the rivers.

Besides, he didn't want to seem _too_ eager to meet the rest of the Denali clan. It might have come off a little … scary. A snort of laughter issuing forth from his throat started a white-tailed deer, which jumped away in fright. To think Vampires would be scared of _him_, a young one by way of age. It was almost too silly to think, let alone suggest to himself!

)*+*(

_A flash of brown. Hair, perhaps? A long, well-worn, 1940's-style double-breasted grey coat, hanging open over a pair of dark brown corduroy pants and a thick shirt. Boots encasing large feet as they walked cross-country. A pale, somewhat familiar, face, golden eyes._

"Alice?" The voice was almost too warbled to hear through her vision. "Alice!"

Alice Cullen snapped back to the present as a hand fell on her shoulder. Focusing on the owner of the hand, she smiled at Edward reassuringly. "It's all right. Nothing bad." She said in a non-committal tone. Edward narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing his younger sister's thoughts. Seeing no danger, he let his hand fall from Alice's small shoulder and hang at his side.

"The one that Carlisle and Esme met?" He questioned. Alice laughed, her voice sounding like a myriad of tinkling bells. "What?" Edward raised an eyebrow.

"You're so protective, Edward. I would know if he were dangerous. My visions tell me that he's harmless – to us _and_ to humans. We'll be fine." She smirked. "Besides, I can't wait to meet him."

"When will he be here?"

"It seems he's indecisive. He wishes to take his time, but he'd like to be here soon…" Alice let her eyes lose focus as she studied her vision again. "At the moment, he's somewhere in British Columbia… the Nechako Reservoir, I think."

"Probably hunting." Edward mused. "Do you think he'll be here by the time Rose and Emmett return from India? He seemed interested in Rose, according to Carlisle's memories."

"I _think_ so… it's hard to say." Alice shook her head. "It'll be a close call."

"What'll be a close call?" Tanya Denali asked, entering the clearing and coming to sit beside the two younger Vampires.

"Carlisle's visitor." Edward said, before Alice could get a word in edgeways. The small female hit his upper arm lightly. He chuckled at the girl's childishness and leaned back against the tree behind him, looking up at the clouded sky through a gap in the leaves. His choice of words, he noticed, had started thoughts in Tanya's head to stir. Shaking his head free of his 'cousin's internal voice, he turned to the lovely Russian. "Mind keeping it down, Tanya? You're as bad as an animal in heat."

Alice watched, a mischievous smile on her face as she watched the two members of her new family begin a short tackle fight, which was over almost as soon as it started, thanks to Edward being able to read Tanya's thoughts and dodging every blow that came his way. Getting up and dusting off her long, floral skirt, she left the two of them to it, heading back toward the large farm where they all resided.

As the house loomed closer, she allowed herself to look around, her burnt-gold eyes searching for her father-figure and friend, Carlisle. Finally noticing him immersed in an in-depth conversation with Eleazar, she made her way to him, intent to tell him about her vision, before stopping in her tracks, eyes becoming unfocused and lost as the vision took hold of her mind completely.

_A calendar date: July 1__st__. The same pair of dusty, worn boots, walking through the clearing that she'd just left. The farmhouse kitchen. A broken chair. A feeling of denial and anger._

Shaking her head free of the images, she wondered what it was supposed to mean. She usually saw flashes of the future, only as the person decided. Did this mean that Carlisle's friend was looking for a fight? Or that he was mentally unstable? She frowned, deciding not to think on it. The future was wont to change; perhaps this was just a vision of what _could_ happen, if she were unable to stop it.

Resuming her walk toward the house, she smiled at Carlisle and Eleazar. No need to worry them with a little vision other than the one she'd been planning to tell them about in the first place. Sitting in a chair opposite the two older vampires, she waited for a break in their conversation so as to tell them the news of the new Vampire's impending arrival.

Carlisle finally turned to her, curiosity reigning supreme in his tawny-coloured eyes. "Alice?"

"Your friend will be arriving soon." She smiled. "The one you met on the plane."

Carlisle's face cleared of concern and he smiled. "Ah, I was wondering when Luc would turn up. After Esme's last letter back in May, we haven't heard from him. I suppose the incentive that Rosalie will be here was too much for his curiosity."

"What is making him so curious about Rosalie?" Eleazar asked.

"The way he acted when I mentioned how I came by her," Carlisle stated. "There was something underneath the surface. I suppose we'll find out more when he arrives. He's only young… it might just be a need to meet someone from his own hometown… a feeling of companionship?"

"Perhaps." Eleazar conceded. "Perhaps…"

)*+*(

Too much time had passed. It was nearing July and Luc had been travelling for a month and a half now, dawdling his way through Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, taking a leisurely stroll through British Columbia and Yukon, and finally crossing the Alaskan state line. Now he was on the home stretch of his journey. If he kept a steady pace, he'd be in Denali by the first day of July.

As he'd gotten nearer to his destination, he'd thought of sending the Cullens a letter, announcing his arrival, but, remembering Carlisle speaking of Alice the visionary, decided against it. If Alice was a seer, she would have almost certainly seen him coming.

Truthfully, (although he'd only admitted to himself quite recently), the nomadic lifestyle was not one he favoured. He supposed, staying in places for extended periods of time over the last couple of decades had instilled a strong urge of settling down. If he thought about it, he'd only lived in three different states of America, not including New York, and two other countries since his Change, unlike his creator, Laurent, who moved from place to place as easy as blinking.

There had been France, of course; the home of his rebirth. After returning to Rochester and subsequently leaving, he'd lived for almost a decade in Alturas, California, where he'd lived the life of an eccentric, yet reclusive, nature-lover; another twelve years in Marmarth, North Dakota as a night-watchman for a small security firm; five years in Durham, England as a hard-working architectural designer without so much as a hint of a social life; and lastly, six months in Colorado as a student, taking a year off to live life before going back to college. And now, here he was, hiking all the way from Aspen to Denali. The mind boggled at how his friend and creator, Laurent, could keep going. But, as he remembered Laurent saying: Everyone who was chanced with second life survived differently. Survival was the key.

His thoughts made the time go faster, that was for sure. The need to hunt caused him to reassess his location and he found that he had been running much more quickly than he'd thought. In the hours that had passed since he'd crossed into Alaska, he surmised that he was about half-way to Anchorage.

That was, until the thirst had caused him to stop, sniffing the air for an easy meal.

Breathing deeply, the young one closed his eyes and concentrated on the world around him. Sifting through the sounds of the wind in the trees, the birdcalls and the smell of a nearing storm and various animal scats, he pricked his ears to the slow, steady beat of his prey.

Lynx.

Opening his eyes, he followed the sound, careful to keep upwind of the creature. The smell of feline shot through his senses and his eyes focused on the large cat which, in turn, was stalking its own prey – a large snowshoe hare.

Time seemed to slow. Luc crept ever nearer to his quarry. The lynx neared the hare. The hare lifted its head, checking for danger and, sensing it, leapt away half a second too late. It was devoured by the big cat before it could make another leap. Luc waited until the lynx was fully immersed in its meal, the blood of the carcass making his throat burn. A quick, quiet leap, the feline's neck was snapped and the vampire was drinking its blood, quenching the ever-burning thirst back to a dull warmth akin to hot coals, rather than a roaring fire.

A few minutes later, satiated for the time being, Luc was back on his trek towards Denali. The lynx's blood fresh in his belly, the vampire ran like the wind to his destination, keeping to the tree line when nearing communities and towns, changing his direction of travel to north-west as he came to Knik River.

Travelling in a near-perfect straight line, he found himself nearing Denali as dawn began to break once again.

)*+*(

"He's here."

Edward looked up from his book – a well-thumbed copy of _The Metamorphosis _by Frank Kafka – and rested his gaze on Alice. Reading her thoughts, he nodded and set the book down on the arm of his chair. Alice shook her head clear and stood with him, aware that Jasper was watching her. Smiling at him, she held out her hand, which he took and allowed himself to be pulled up from the floor, where he'd been leaning against the wall, staring into space, thinking.

"Come on, Jasper… let's go welcome our guest." Alice said in a sing-song voice. Pulling him by the hand as she followed Edward out the door, the slight visionary allowed her 'older brother' to probe her thoughts to see exactly where the visitor would be.

Walking to the edge of the tree line, Edward stopped, casting his mind out to find Luc. A few seconds later, he started off again, heading toward the clearing to await the young one's arrival, Alice and Jasper following close behind.

Although empty and quiet to a human's ear, the quick, sure step of someone walking through the woods was not lost on the three Vampires. There was barely a rustle of leaves as their keen sight saw a figure approaching from the gloom of the forest at night.

"Hello." Edward said, watching the human-shaped figure in the depth of shadow. He listened. The young Vampire was not afraid. Esme had mentioned Edward in her letters at least. He seemed calm, collected, eager to meet like-minded kinfolk. Luc moved forward into the dusky light of dawn, looking curiously at the three of them. "I'm Edward. This is Alice and Jasper. We're here to meet you, Luc."

"You're the children that Esme spoke of in her letters." The man's voice sounded like the low notes of a string quartet. "The visionary and the mind-reader and the mood-stabiliser."

Edward was not surprised that Esme had told this young vampire of their gifts; she was very proud of them, after all. "Well," He said with a hint of a smile. "I would hardly call us _children_." He snickered softly. "But yes, that's us."

Luc exited the tree line, his pale skin taking on a pinkish-orange in the dawn light that filtered through the trees. "I've come by Carlisle's invitation." He said finally, obviously at a loss of what to say. Alice nodded, a grin spreading over her face. Dropping Jasper's hand, she skipped forward and took Luc's, instead, smiling winningly up at his face.

"It's _so_ nice to meet you, Luc… though, I feel like I know you already!" She laughed her merry, tinkling laugh again. "Come on, Carlisle and Esme are at the house… the others are out hunting."

Leading the young man out of the forest and back to the house, followed closely by Edward and Jasper, Alice skipped most of the way, her happy-go-lucky mood enough to set everyone's mind at ease.

Entering the large kitchen, the waif-like vampire cleared her throat to gain the attention of Esme, who was sitting at the table, stitching. Looking up, Esme's eyes found Luc's and she smiled widely, getting up from her chair to hug the young man to her person, much to Luc's surprise – he rarely let anyone get close enough to touch, let alone hug. But, a feeling of calm washed over him and he hugged the woman back, missing the look that Alice shot at Jasper behind his back and Jasper's answering grin.

"It's so good to see you again, Luc!" Esme breathed, leaning back out of the embrace. "Welcome!"

"Thank you, Esme." Luc said quietly, sitting in the chair that Alice had pulled out for him. The three younger vampires joined them at the table just as Carlisle walked in. One glance at Luc and he held out a hand to shake by way of greeting. Luc smiled, shaking the man's hand firmly. "Hello, Carlisle. I thought I might take you up on the invitation." He grinned.

"We've been waiting for it to happen." Carlisle chuckled. "How've you been?"

"As well as can be expected for a still-new-to-the-idea-of-Nomadism Vampire." Luc said with an answering chuckle. Carlisle smirked, while Edward merely snorted. Esme swatted him lightly upside the head.

"Edward!" She scolded. The young man ducked his head, failing to hide his grin.

"Sorry, Esme. I was just remembering my time as a Nomad… didn't sit too well with me either."

"That's just because you missed me too much." Alice quipped, hugging Edward's arm, a look of innocence of her pixie-like face.

"Hardly." Edward smirked. "You weren't even in the picture then."

"So you came back in time to meet me." Alice pouted. "And then realised how much you would've missed me if you'd kept up the lifestyle."

Luc watched this easy banter between the two of them with an amused expression. He dimly remembered playful arguments between himself and Rosalie and Casper when they had been much, much younger. How he missed those days.

"Did you enjoy your travels up here?" Carlisle said, his voice effectively cutting off any and all argument between the bickering pair. "I hear you took your time." He looked meaningfully at Alice as he said this.

"I did." Luc agreed, feeling more at ease than he had in a very long time. "I suppose I could have made the trip in a few days, but I did enjoy taking my time, watching the landscape change… it was… relaxing, for lack of a better term." He smiled.

"Well, I must say," Esme said, her hands clasped underneath her chin. "It is good to have you here… I will admit I was slightly worried when you didn't answer my last letter. That is, until Alice told me that you'd decided to visit."

"Well, it was too appealing an offer to pass up, that's for sure." Luc agreed. "To be among my own kin with likewise diets." He paused. "The stories I've had to make up about myself to keep away from humans were starting to take their toll… I was never very good at stories, cover or otherwise."

Esme laughed; Carlisle nodded solemnly. "I know what you mean." He said after a moment. "But don't worry… it gets better as the years go by… we've a lot of free time on our hands. You get lots of practice."

The three friends settled into easy conversation, interrupted here and there by a comment from Edward or Alice. Luc noticed Jasper stayed silent, as though deep in thought. At one point, Jasper caught him looking at merely smiled, which Luc returned politely.

The day wore on, Luc learned the stories of his fellow vampires – Carlisle was the son of a preacher, born in 1643. Luc now understood the tone he used when mentioning that they had a lot of time of their hands. He learned of Edward's past and the two of them spend a good portion of the day talking about books that they'd read.

He met the rest of the family as they came home from hunting – Irina, Tanya and Kate, and felt extremely uncomfortable under the heated, fliratcious gazes that they gave him. Carmen and Eleazar, who came in later, welcomed him warmly into their home.

The conversation was easy, free-flowing and interesting, up until the point that Tanya, in an effort to gain the new male's attention, sat in his lap during another discussion about books with Edward. Luc, who had been balancing the kitchen chair on the two back legs (a bad habit he'd gotten into, he admitted), had not been expecting the extra weight and the two Vampires fell to the floor with a thud, the chair legs splintering and breaking off of the seat due to the angle at which Luc and Tanya fell.

The ensuing laughter was raucous and was only interrupted when Alice suddenly squealed and ran from the room. Nine curious glances shot toward Edward (for Luc had fallen easily into the habit, once he'd learned the extent of Edward's gift). The young immortal rolled his eyes.

"Emmett and Rosalie are home." He said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Sure enough, thirty-two and a half seconds later, the door opened and Alice's voice floated through, babbling about the visitor and how Emmett and Rosalie simply _had _to meet him.

The voices came closer and Emmett (or who Luc could only assume was Emmett) entered the room, taking one glance at the broken chair before looking at Luc and Tanya, who were now leaning their backs against the wall by the back door.

"Hey." He said, a friendly grin on his face. Luc merely grinned back, not wanting to admit he was a little intimidated by this absolutely _huge_ bear of a man. Luckily, Alice entered the room at that moment, breaking off the awkward silence.

"Come _on_, Rose! We're not getting any younger here!"

"Or older." Jasper said, speaking for the first time in hours, causing Emmett to laugh loudly, Edward to smirk and the rest of the family to smile or roll their eyes.

Luc turned to the door. Of everyone he'd met today, it was Rose he'd most anticipated to meet. If she even looked _slightly_ like his sister…

A woman walked into the room. But she could hardly be called a woman, much rather a goddess. Long blonde hair hung loose, framing her pale face. Blood red lips and molten-honey eyes stood out on her lily-white face. She was easily the most beautiful woman that Luc had ever seen.

At that moment, their eyes met and for an agonisingly long second, the world seemed to stop. Luc's jaw dropped, Rosalie's eyes registered a multitude of emotions, among them: shock, recognition, horror, shame and anger.

For the first time in thirty-seven years, brother and sister laid eyes on each other.


	5. Chapter Four

**CHAPTER FOUR**

_**An excerpt from 'The New York Times' obituaries, February 1933  
><strong>__Rosalie Lillian Hale, soon-  
>to-be-wife of Royce King II,<br>was found beaten by thugs  
>and left to die in an alleyway<br>two nights ago._

_The man who found her, a  
>doctor, who wished not to be<br>identified, tried everything in  
>his power to save her from what<br>has been described as a slow  
>and painful death, but to no avail.<em>

_The remaining Hale family – Edgar  
>and Maureen, with their two<br>surviving sons, Lucian and Casper  
>appeal to any and all witnesses<br>who might have seen the attack.  
>A reward of $500 has been offered<br>to anyone who may have  
>information of Rosalie's attack.<em>

_The funeral will take place at the  
>First Presbyterian Church on South<br>Plymouth Avenue, Rochester, NY,  
>on Monday, 27<em>_th__ February._

)*+*(

_****_The air was thick with tension as the two vampires stared at each other in silence. Cautionary glances between both Luc and Rose told Edward that there was no ill feeling between the two, merely surprise and recognition. Did the two know each other?

After what seemed to be an age, Luc remembered to close his mouth. "Rosalie?" He asked, his voice thick with confusion. Never in his wildest dreams had he actually thought Rose Cullen was his sister. But here in the flesh, stood the object of beauty that he remembered so well from his childhood.

At the sound of Luc's voice uttering her name, Rosalie's eyes narrowed and she studied him carefully. The silence fell like a thick blanket over the entire room, everyone waiting to see her reaction to the visitor. Her thoughts, although silent to the rest of the room, were loud and clear to Edward, who winced slightly at the images that bombarded his mind. Images of a small boy, about thirteen years of age, playing 'Keep Away' with Rosalie's hair ribbon; the same boy, Rosalie and a smaller boy walking with a nanny in a park; Rosalie in a rare show of selflessness, shielding her younger brother from cruel taunts; Rosalie's feelings during a formal family portrait after a particularly gruelling game of chess with the much smarter younger boy.

"Lucian…" Rosalie said, finally, her voice barely a whisper. The shock of seeing her brother, apparently ten years older than when she'd last seen him, was making her find it difficult to locate her voice to say anything else. Finally, she blinked, as if coming out of a deep trance. "Lucian?"

"It's me, Rosie." Luc wetted his lips, unsure of how to proceed with this reunion. "I… I didn't know." He got up from his place on the floor next to Tanya. He seemed about to reach for her, but pulled back as she flinched. Without another word, the blonde beauty turned and walked outside.

A moment passed and Luc trailed after her. Emmett made to follow, but a stern glance from Carlisle made him stop. Carlisle looked around at his family and sighed. "Let's leave them be… it's a big shock to both of them, I have no doubt. They'll want to talk privately, I think."

Edward nodded in silent agreement, having seen Luc's thoughts as he'd walked out of the room, following the being that had turned out to be his flesh-and-blood sister.

The sound of Carlisle's voice seemed to have broken the spell that had held the coven captive and silent for the last few minutes and soon, now that the 'shiny new toy' (namely, Luc) had left the room, the family began to go about their usual evening activities: Alice and Jasper stole away to the barn loft that they called their home, Edward picked up _The Metamorphosis _and began reading again, Emmett sat with Esme and Carlisle, talking about the trip to India and the things that he and Rosalie had done there, Carmen and Eleazar disappeared to their room at the top of the stairs, while Kate and Irina began work on a game of chess that would keep them immersed for hours, Tanya made quick work of the broken chair, putting the scraps on the woodpile beside the fireplace before heading off to the small community to find someone to take her mind off Luc.

)*+*(

"Rosalie, stop… please." Luc ran after the swiftly moving blond and grabbed her arm, causing the girl to hiss as she turned to glare at him.

"Don't _touch_ me." She growled softly. Luc let go of her arm and stood, somewhat forlornly in the gathering darkness. Rose turned to face him fully, eyeing him, her guarded expression melting into a softer one as she recognised the expression. "Are you really my brother?" She asked, finally. "Are you really Lucian Francis Hale?"

"I am." Luc bowed his head. "Second born to Edgar and Maureen Hale on the 14th of March, 1918." He looked up at Rosalie's golden eyes, wondering what was going on in her mind. Rosalie sighed, a hiss of breath escaping between her teeth.

"I was hoping you'd say no." She said softly, looking at him. "I'm sorry I was so rude back at the house… I was in shock."

"It's all right, Rosie…" Luc assured her. "It was a shock to see you too. Carlisle told me that he saved you from dying in the street from a mugging, and I put two and two together, but I didn't really _believe_ that you would turn out to be my sister. I _hoped_, but I didn't actually _believe_…"

Rose managed a dry chuckle. "Strange how the world works, isn't it?" She said, stepping closer to study the man who had turned out to be her brother. "How did you come to be immortal, Luc? You're older than I was…"

Luc sighed. "I was changed on the fields of Lyon in 1943… I was a soldier." He gazed at her. "I was dying of bullet wounds to the stomach, my battalion had been massacred. My creator – Laurent – felt some strange need to save me. I don't know why."

"You? In the army?" Rosalie's eyes widened. "I'm… sorry, Luc… I just can't see my bookworm of a little brother as a soldier." The tone of her voice made Luc laugh huskily. "Why did you join up?"

"It wasn't like I had much choice." Luc shrugged. "I was drafted."

Rosalie was silent, assessing the new information. "Were Daddy and Mama proud?" A thousand and one different questions flew in different expressions over her face. Luc shrugged again.

"Father killed himself soon after your… funeral." He paused at the last word, the taste slightly bitter on his tongue. Rosalie breathed in sharply. "Mother was proud… well, she was on the occasions she remembered who I was."

"What do you mean?" Rosalie's eyebrows piqued in confusion.

"Mother was attacked about six months before I was sent to France." Luc explained, bending to pick up a leaf that had blown across the grass and had become caught on his leg. Rosalie put a hand to her mouth.

"Who would want to attack Mama?"

"Casper." Luc hazarded a gaze back up at his sister's face only to see it contort in horror. "He went mad, Rosie… I'm not sure as to why… he tried to choke mother to death with her best scarf." He dropped his gaze again, unable to bear the pain that flashed across his sister's face.

Rosalie was silent, mulling over what Luc had told her. "Where is Casper now?"

"He was still in ByBerry Asylum in January." Luc thought for a moment. "Though, according to their files, he's made several attempts to escape, none of which have succeeded. They keep him strapped to his bed most of the time."

"Poor Casper." Rose murmured, pain in her eyes as she imagined her lovable youngest brother as a criminal. "And Mama… did she… live?"

"She lived through Casper's attack." Luc nodded. "But she died in 1942 from tuberculosis." There was more silence as the two began to walk slowly around the perimeter of the farm, comfortable in each other's company as if thirty-seven years had not passed and they were as close as they had been in their childhood.

"It's not fair." Rosalie said after a time. "Here we are, frozen in the bodies we all but died in, while Mama and Daddy are in the ground and Casper rots away in an insane asylum." She dipped her head. "I never dreamed that you would experience a second life, Luc… I'm sorry you had to."

"Why are you sorry?" Luc was surprised. "I would have thought you were glad to have an actual family member still with you."

"I am! Don't mistake what I'm saying, Luc… but… this life… it isn't all it seems. If I'd had my way, I would much rather have died on the street, had I known what I know now – the thirst, the sleepless nights, the fact that we won't experience things that normal humans can – parenthood, old age, death." Rosalie stopped walking, looking at her brother with a solemn expression. Brushing a lock of his hair out of his face with a pale index finger, she smiled. "But, when all is said and done… it is good to see you again, even if you _are_ older than me now." Luc merely chuckled in response.

"Rosie, you don't need to feel responsible for me. I can take care of myself. I'm not the little bookworm you remember." Her impenetrable gaze left him wavering slightly. "Alright, maybe I _am_ still a little of the bookworm you remember." He conceded. "But I understand your protectiveness , even if you are just being an older sister." He grinned as she slapped his upper arm. "This immortal thing is… an experience; one that not many people can admit to having. Sure, we won't experience the things humans' experience, but who can say they'll see the turn of two or more centuries? Most people don't even get to experience one." He took a breath. "In the time that we've been around, we've seen two world wars, the rise and fall of Hitler, Technicolour, the birth of rock and roll and free love! Just think of what tomorrow could bring?"

Rosalie regarded her brother. She didn't want to admit it, but she was envious at his upbeat attitude. The way he could roll with the punches, accept his lot in life. She wished she could be like that. But, she reminded herself, Luc had always been a carefree youth, happy to take what he was given. She supposed that stemmed from the attention that was lavished on her during their childhood. Luc and Casper had to make do with the attention they could get, whilst Rosalie couldn't seem to get a moment to herself until she was seventeen, due to her parents using her in their social climbing agenda.

The siblings walked in amiable silence, their steps too light to sink too far into the ground. Presently, Luc brought his arm around his sister's shoulders in a companionable gesture. Rose leaned into the embrace; a little put off that her little brother was now so much _taller_ than her now. He'd obviously experienced a growth spurt – even though she'd remembered him as nearing her height when she was actually _alive._

As they walked, they spoke of their different experiences after they'd turned. Luc listened in mild surprise as he learned that the thugs responsible for Rose's beating had met an ultimate demise by her own hands. He didn't remember his sister being the vengeful sort. When Rose mentioned Royce's name last, he almost crowed happily.

"I knew it!" He exclaimed, making Rosalie stop mid-sentence. "Royce was responsible."

"Yes." She said warily, looking at her brother as though he'd grown a second head.

"It's nothing." Luc said, calming down and quirking his lips in a shadow of a smile. "It just that Father, Mother _and_ Casper ridiculed me for even _thinking_ that Royce would have been responsible for such a thing as your … murder." Again, a word that related to Rosalie's apparent demise tasted bitter on his tongue. "Father couldn't comprehend that such an upstanding member of society could be responsible for such an act of violence…"

"Father always hero-worshipped the King family." Rosalie agreed. "Thinking back, I can see it now. How blind I was in my youth…"

"You weren't blind. You were young, you were infatuated." Luc defended, a small smile still playing about his lips.

"In love with the idea of love." They spoke the words at the same time, causing a small chuckle to issue from Luc's lips.

"All I remember you talking about was how your wedding dress was going to surpass Margaret Sullivan's, how I was to be Royce's best man, since none of his friends had accepted the duty, and how Vera would been your matron of honour. It was fashionable at the time, you were happy."

"Such a little brother, always playing up to your older sister's preferences." Rosalie giggled softly. "You haven't changed much, with your transformation." She had to smirk. "What about your turning?"

"My turning?" Luc was silent for a few minutes as he gathered his thoughts. "I already told you of my creator – Laurent. What haven't I told you?"

"Of your initial change." Rose said, almost immediately. "What happened?"

Luc spent a few minutes gathering his thoughts before he decided to answer his sister. "I don't remember much of my transformation." He admitted. "From what Laurent told me, I was acting much like a feverish human in the clutches of a particularly bad illness. There were points where he thought I was dead, much like my comrades surrounding me in the field, but the faint beating of my heart and the sheen of sweat on my brow convinced him otherwise."

Rosalie merely scowled at this revelation. If she ever met Laurent, she'd have many things to say to him, but at this point she opted to say nothing, leaving Luc to tell his story.

""I woke in a ditch, close to a wood. The first thing that I remember occurring was that I had to find nourishment. I was unsure of what was happening – or what had happened – to me. I heard the trickling of water in a small creek and followed the sound until I was almost at the water's edge. A smell of blood and the steady heartbeat of a boar stopped me in my trek for water. Because all of my comrades had been killed in the ambush, I had to find nourishment in other areas." He stopped, remembering his first day as an immortal. "I drank from the pig – merely because it was the closest being with a heartbeat to my current location. It was soon after I finished my first immortal meal that Laurent found me. We trekked together through France, avoiding German soldiers and plotting ways to get me out of the country. Laurent – a Frenchman and a nomad, had no qualms with me leaving – indeed, if I left, he would be free to live his immortal life and not care for a vivacious newborn. It took two years, but I finally found passage on a ship that was delivering injured soldiers home in 1945. I got tired of the nurses demanding they change my bandages, so I jumped ship and swam the rest of the way back, arrived in Maine, and made my way back to Rochester."

Rose listened in earnest, wanting to know every detail of her brother's second life up until now. She hadn't realised just how hollow she'd felt without her family and, although angry that Luc would never experience the rest of a human life, felt more at ease with her blood brother at her side than she had in the thirty seven years she'd spent with the Cullens.

The night wore on, Luc learned more of Rose's second life and she his – the people they'd met, the various lives they'd lived, Rose's schooling, the Volturi, the countries they'd visited and lived in and the cultures they'd come across.

It was the Volturi that interested Luc the most in the conversation, and he questioned Rosalie relentlessly of the subject until Rose, having never met the vampire 'royal family' told him to ask his questions of Carlisle and then changed the subject. Far from stupid, Luc understood that his sister did not wish to speak of the subject anymore – probably remembering Luc's curious nature from childhood.

As they ran out of things in their lives to talk about, they changed course and headed back toward the farmhouse, having been walking in the moonlight for several hours. The night air's chill, unnoticed as it nipped across their pale, dead skin, seemed to go ahead of them, blowing the leaves from their intended path and clearing the way so that their steps remained silent.

The farmhouse's windows were full of light and as they neared, they heard the sound of a classical piece being played on the piano.

"Edward." Rose stated. "He's a fantastic musician." Luc chuckled slightly.

"We get along just fine." He agreed. "We spoke of books mostly." Rose merely rolled her eyes.

"There is more to life than just books, you know." She chided.

"Just like there's more to life than looks." Luc matched her tone, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth as she slapped his arm lightly once again. "Nice to know you haven't changed _that_ much."

As they entered the house, Esme got up from her chair and came toward them.

"You've been gone a long time." She said, a hint of worry melting from her eyes. "I was beginning to get worried."

"Oh, we were talking about each other's lives." Luc smiled. "Filling each other in on what has happened since we saw each other last."

Esme studied the pair as Rose slipped from her brother's grip and settled on the couch beside Emmett and snuggled into his bear-like embrace, sighing softly as he kissed her hair. Luc sat in a chair, watching his sister and her beloved. How he wished that he would meet someone that he could be like that with.

Esme sat back in her seat across from the young Vampire. "You're welcome to stay." She said softly. "It's been agreed. But…"

Luc looked up at the 'but', a questioning look on his face. "'But'?"

"Our clan is getting far too big." Kate offered, having been listening in. "Attention is something we like to avoid."

Esme shot a look at Kate. "We – the Cullens – have been considering moving on. Much like you, as you've told us. We like to find a new place to live every couple of years. But, like I said, you're welcome to join us wherever we happen to go."

"Thank you, Esme." Luc smiled. At least he wasn't being turned away, not when he'd just found his sister. "I'll definitely consider the offer."

Esme returned the young Vampire's smile and touched his arm reassuringly, before picking up her stitching once again, glad that the subject she'd been worrying about was now out of the way. Luc, on the other hand, stared at the wooden floor of the farm house in silence, mulling over not only the offer of a place in a coven, but everything he'd learned of his sister in their hours of conversation. There were certainly things to consider now. Luckily he had all the time in the world.


End file.
